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_______________________________

Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach

School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies

Cornell University

16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky

New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau

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Congressional Research Service (CRS)

 

Immigration-Related Worksite Enforcement: Performance Measures

Andorra Bruno, Specialist in Immigration Policy

August 7, 2013

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R40002.pdf

[full-text, 16 pages]

 

Summary

In 2009, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued new guidance on immigrationrelated

worksite enforcement. Under the guidelines, DHS “will use all available civil and

administrative tools, including civil fines and debarment, to penalize and deter illegal

employment.” According to 2010 estimates, there are some 8.0 million unauthorized workers in

the U.S. civilian labor force.

 

DHS’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is responsible for immigration-related

worksite enforcement, or enforcement of the prohibitions on unauthorized employment in Section

274A of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The INA Section 274A provisions,

sometimes referred to as employer sanctions, make it unlawful for an employer to knowingly

hire, recruit or refer for a fee, or continue to employ an alien who is not authorized to be so

employed. Today, ICE’s worksite enforcement program is focused primarily on cases that involve

critical infrastructure facilities and cases involving employers who commit “egregious violations”

of criminal statutes and engage in worker exploitation.

 

Employers who violate INA prohibitions on the unlawful employment of aliens may be subject to

civil monetary penalties and/or criminal penalties. Criminal investigations may result in

defendants being charged with crimes beyond unlawful employment and being subject to the

relevant penalties for those violations.

 

Various measures are available to examine the performance of ICE’s worksite enforcement

program. They include Final Orders for civil monetary penalties, administrative fines,

administrative arrests, criminal arrests, criminal indictments and convictions, and criminal fines

and forfeitures. In addition to examining annual changes and trends in the various performance

measure data, these data can be considered in relation to the estimated size of the unauthorized

workforce or the potential number of employers employing these workers. When considered in

this context, ICE’s worksite enforcement program can seem quite limited.

 

Enforcement activity by the Department of Labor (DOL) is also relevant to a discussion of

federal efforts to curtail unauthorized employment. DOL, which is responsible for enforcing

minimum wage, overtime pay, and related requirements, focuses a significant percentage of its

enforcement resources on low-wage industries that employ large numbers of immigrant—and

presumably large numbers of unauthorized—workers.

 

Contents

Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 1

DHS Enforcement ............................................................................................................................ 1

Penalties ..................................................................................................................................... 3

Civil Penalties ..................................................................................................................... 3

Criminal Penalties ............................................................................................................... 4

Program Performance ................................................................................................................ 4

Administrative Fines ........................................................................................................... 4

Administrative and Criminal Arrests ................................................................................... 6

Criminal Prosecutions and Fines ......................................................................................... 8

DOL Enforcement .......................................................................................................................... 10

Compliance Activities in Low-Wage Industries ................................................................ 11

Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 13

 

Tables

Table 1. Final Orders and Administrative Fines, FY1999-FY2012 ................................................. 5

Table 2. Administrative and Criminal Arrests in Worksite Enforcement Operations, FY2003-FY2012 ............................... 6

Table 3. Criminal Indictments and Convictions Related to Worksite Enforcement Investigations, FY2005-FY2012 ......................... 8

Table 4. Criminal Fines and Forfeitures Related to Worksite Enforcement Investigations, FY2003-FY2012 .................................... 9

Table 5. Cases and Back Wage Collections in Low-Wage Industries: FY2008 ............................. 12

Table 6. Cases and Back Wage Collections in Low-Wage Industries: FY2003-FY2008 .............. 12

 

Contacts

Author Contact Information........................................................................................................... 13

 

 

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